The Classicist: The Private Luxury of Loro Piana

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
May 19th 2008 at 9:03AM

If I had the means I could easily wear nothing but Loro Piana for the rest of my life. They make the most comfortable, classic, stylish and subtly luxurious clothes I've ever had the pleasure of putting on. World-famous for their cashmere, the 200-year-old Italian company, which began as a textile merchant, has also branched out into other areas (including accessories and women's clothing) in more recent years with equal success.

Loro Piana's motto has it that true luxury is "knowing, not showing," i.e. dressing for yourself, not to impress others. It's "an inner satisfaction that comes from an aesthetic, intellectual, tactile pleasure, stemming from tradition, research and genuine quality." What could be better than that?

Their latest innovation is called Baby Cashmere®. To make this fabric the company first had to spend several years convincing Mongolian and Chinese breeders to comb the fine underfleece of the Hyrcus goat kid when it is 3-12 months old. Each combing yields no more than 30 grams of the rare, precious and incredibly soft fibre. Baby Cashmere crops up in Loro Piana's luxe Fall/Winter 2008 collection, which is about to hit stores; as usual we want it all.

We love the knitted stretch cashmere Davenport jacket pictured here, which like a lot of their designs calls to mind a cross between Cary Grant and Steve McQueen. And also like many of their best designs it captures that ineffable quality of effortless elegance the Italians call sprezzatura. This is the kind of thing you wear for a drive to your villa on Lake Como in your Maserati Gran Turismo. Even better, merely putting on this jacket for a trip to the liquor store can make you feel like you're driving to your villa in a Maserati, which is the real test of its worth (The jacket retails for $3,995).

Gallery: Loro Piana Luxe

Maine cashmere cardigan and Baby Cashmere turtleneck.

Double face baby cashmere Vassar cape from Women's Fall/Winter '08.

While remaining firmly rooted in tradition, Loro Piana is constantly making technological advances and finding ways to protect even the most delicate fabrics from the elements. Their ingenious Storm System® is an extremely light and transparent "micro-molecular membrane" which when applied to the back of the fabric guards against inclement weather while leaving it free to breathe.

Unfortunately with such fine, desirable and exclusive products they're also constantly being ripped off. So this season some of their cashmere carries an anti-counterfeiting seal. It's an individual serial number engraved on a small metal tag attached to the garment, which can actually be traced all the way back not only to the fabric used to make it but the actual yarn used in weaving it in the first place. You can see that and more from the new collection in the gallery -- but you might want to check your credit limit first.

Tags: Cary Grant, CaryGrant, Cashmere, Italy, Lake Como, LakeComo, Loro Piana, LoroPiana, Maserati, Mens clothing, MensClothing, Steve McQueen, SteveMcqueen

Filed under: Apparel, Men's Style, The Classicist

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

niklas Ankar May 30th 2008 8:18AM

Hi Jean Paul,

I recently started a website, initially with cashmere only, and only buy Loro Piana yarns. Just added linen pocket squares (or party flags as I call them) and awaiting a shipment of East african kikoys. Check it out www.ankar.se

best regards
Niklas J Ankar